I’m disappointed I even made this soup, because it means temperatures have still been frigid enough for me to be craving steamy hot soup for lunch. But with temps barely hitting 30 these days and snow that still needs to melt (ONE week away from April), soup still made it on the menu this week. Fortunately I used this recipe from The Vegan 8, so it was well worth it. I debated throwing everything into the slow cooker, as I do, instead of cooking this on the stovetop, but decided to go with the original instructions and it hardly took any time at all. I cut corners a bit by using pre-cooked frozen brown rice that I added to the soup after cooking, skipped the basil (only because I forgot to buy it), and used a 28oz can of diced tomatoes instead of using fresh Roma tomatoes since fresh tomatoes leave a lot to be desired this time of year. For so few ingredients this soup was bursting with flavor and totally satisfying. Click here for the original recipe and ingredients and let us all keep our fingers crossed for warmer temperatures. Immediately.

I love barley. It’s dense and chewy, holds its weight without getting soggy in soup, goes great in a chilled grain salad or is hearty heated up as a side dish. For a quick lunch, I whipped up this barley recipe and something about the fresh parsley and lemon zest that almost tricked my tastebuds into thinking spring my actually be on its way. A girl can dream!

This recipe for Sweet Potato Curry caught my eye immediately because well, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and curry. Sold! Without even reading the instructions (too many instructions!) I knew I could cut the prep time way back by just tossing everything in my slow cooker. It was prepped in 10 minutes, done in 4 hours, and scooped over fluffy brown basmati rice. The three of us gobbled down big bowls of it and I’m already re-stocking the ingredients to make again next week!

For the original recipe and instructions, click here. If you love your slow cooker like I do, try this:

More snow for us New Englanders means more bowls of piping hot soup for lunch, in my book. This recipe was slightly adapted from this Slow Cooker Vegetable White Bean Stew. I couldn’t find white beans at Whole Foods, but love chickpeas even more, so went for those. And, admittedly, I’ve never cooked chickpeas from scratch before and was nervous they’d still be rock hard since I didn’t pre-soak them. Nope! The chickpeas cooked perfectly and the soup was bursting with flavor. This makes a massive batch, and I froze half of this before going on vacation so we’d have dinner when we returned, making coming home from vacation just the tiniest bit more bearable. TINIEST bit.

Place chickpeas, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, oregano, thyme, water, and bouillon in the base of your slow cooker. Set on high for 3 hours.

Stir in diced tomatoes and liquid and salt and cook for another 1.5 hours on high.

Once done, mix in cooked rice or scoop rice into bowls, topped with soup before serving.

]]>http://www.eatwellwithjanel.com/slow-cooker-chickpea-veggie-soup/feed/2RawSpiceBar Reviewhttp://www.eatwellwithjanel.com/rawspicebar-review/
http://www.eatwellwithjanel.com/rawspicebar-review/#commentsWed, 18 Feb 2015 11:00:51 +0000http://www.eatwellwithjanel.com/?p=4970]]>I was recently contacted by RawSpiceBar, a monthly spice subscription box, inviting me to try a box myself to see what I thought about it. I love the idea of subscription boxes (who doesn’t love amazing packages delivered to their door every single month?!) but am always put off by some of the boxes’ high cost (hello, StitchFix). RawSpiceBar speaks my language – they send flavorful spice blends and recipes to their subscribers every month for only $6. SIX dollars! Yessss.

They work with top chefs to create freshly ground spice blends and their goal is to enable cooks to incorporate three unique, freshly ground spice blends (from all over the world) into everyday cooking. I was instantly intrigued. I have a huge spice collection but don’t often know which spices are best used for what dishes. I also have a toddler who is obsessed with my spice cabinet, so it was exciting to receive spices that were JUST for me. And, I love incorporating dried herbs and spices into my cooking not only for the flavor kick but also because they’re loaded with antioxidants and health benefits.

I received my first RawSpiceBar delivery in January, and love the pretty packaging which included the spice packets, a few recipes and a write up of the chef who inspired the recipes. This month’s spices included Navajo inspired spice blends: ground chiles, posole spices, sumac and herb, and juniper berries blend. I was immediately drawn to the recipe for Navajo Flatbreads with Sumac and Herbs, since it was a simple flatbread recipe, we had all the ingredients on hand, it was easy enough that my toddler could help, and I could make them in my cast iron skillet.

This is a description of the sumac and herbs blend: A New Mexican herb blend of rosemary, Mexican sage, Mexican oregano, theym and fennel plus black peppercorns, garlic, cinnamon and sumac provide and herby, peppery, spicy tanginess for our Navajo flatbreads.

I don’t recall ever having cooked with sumac before but absolutely love all of the other spices in the blend, and really like adding cinnamon for a sweet touch to savory dishes. I was sold.

Of course as soon as I ripped open the spice packet, I dipped my finger in to give it a taste. It was so flavorful, so fresh, and as I was cooking I kept trying to think of other foods I could use the spice blend for – a salmon seasoning, add to a pasta and veggie dish, a new flavor profile for simple rice and beans, and more. I’m glad I still have half of a packet left! The flatbreads were delicious, and we paired them with salmon and string beans. They were like a cross between savory pancakes and scones, but were so much more than basic flatbread.

RawSpiceBar is on to something great. At only $6 per box, this would make such a great gift for a foodie or someone who wants to experiment more in the kitchen.

Disclosure: I was provided with the January box for free but was not compensated for this post. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Funk and I were never huge pasta eaters before Zacky, who will eat all. the. pasta. So I find myself cooking a pasta dish once a week for lunch or dinner that I know he’ll devour. (But, lucky for us, he will devour pretty much any food.) For this dish, I wanted to include something insanely nutritious (sardines!) to balance out the pile of pasta we were tossing on our plates. This recipe I found from the New York Times was basic to throw together, but the flavors were anything but basic. I love adding briny capers to sardine dishes, and the toasted breadcrumbs give a nice crumbly texture you don’t usually get with pasta. As expected, the toddler housed his portions and probably didn’t even notice the flecks of sardines he got in every bite.

Ingredients (modified slightly from the original recipe):

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 onions, chopped

1 pound fettuccine

2 Tbsp drained capers

2 cans boneless, skinless sardines packed in water

A few shakes of dried tarragon (only because I didn’t have dried parsley or fresh parsley)

Over the weekend, we had a big family cooking day with Zacky. I didn’t plan on it, but I had a bunch of Sunday meal prep recipes I wanted to tackle, the weather outside was crummy, and our little toddler is in love with his homemade learning tower where he can help mix and dump ingredients alongside me at the counter. We made a couple of things for the week, including these oatmeal bake bars for breakfast. Zacky had a blast helping and while my kitchen was an absolute disaster (and somehow I even found canned pumpkin stuck to places in my bedroom after), it was worth it for the time spent together and the good food we made. I just barely tweaked this original recipe, so head over there for the baking instructions.

We’ve been enjoying this all week for breakfast paired with some fruit and a hard boiled egg. Since we’re plowing through these bars I don’t think we’ll get the chance to freeze them, but I’m guessing they’d be great to freeze half and enjoy later (I cut ours into 10 bars).

I’ve flagged a few recipes for lentil ragu that I wanted to try, but it wasn’t until I found one that could be done in the slow cooker that I decided to make it. Who wants to stand over a hot stove of bubbling hot soup for any length of time? Not me. This was very easy to throw together and the kitchen smelled amazing all day. This is the original recipe I referred to, tweaking it slightly and probably messing up some measurements in my conversion of ml to ounces and grams to cups.

1 onion, diced

3 carrots, peeled and diced

1 package white mushrooms, sliced

5 celery stalks, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

28oz can diced tomatoes and liquid

6oz tomato paste

7 fl oz vegetable broth

2T worcestershire sauce

1T mixed dried herbs (like a 21 season blend)

1 cup dry green lentils

4 fl oz red wine

salt to taste

Set in slow cooker on low for 7 hours, stirring every few hours.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. We used a brown rice quinoa spaghetti to mix things up on the pasta front.

I couldn’t get over how rich and meaty this sauce turned out. The flavor and texture reminded me of meat sauce I ate years and years ago, and I love my tomato sauce to be super chunky. I’m filing this recipe under: Make again very, very soon.

I posted a pic of this soup on Instagram recently, and afterwards, I had a few requests for the recipe. But, there is no recipe! I just tossed a bunch of ingredients in my slow cooker and this soup was the end result. I love hearty veggie soups and stews in colder months since it’s the winter equivalent of a meal-salad and keep me stuffed for hours. I’ve been enjoying the Trader Joe’s canned vegetable lentil soup a lot this winter, and decided to make my own big batch, since nothing is easier than soup in a slow cooker.

Ingredients (approximate)

1 cup dry green lentils

5 carrots, diced

1 white onion, diced

1 bag string beans, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces

1 white potato, diced

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes

4c vegetable broth

a few shakes of dried thyme

a few shakes of dried oregano

a few shakes of cumin

salt to taste

Place all ingredients in slow cooker (I have a large 6 quart one) and set to cook on low for 8 hours.

]]>http://www.eatwellwithjanel.com/no-recipe-veggie-lentil-soup-in-the-slow-cooker/feed/0One-Pot Pasta with Veggieshttp://www.eatwellwithjanel.com/one-pot-pasta-with-veggies/
http://www.eatwellwithjanel.com/one-pot-pasta-with-veggies/#commentsWed, 21 Jan 2015 11:00:52 +0000http://www.eatwellwithjanel.com/?p=4947]]>I’ve been seeing a lot of one-pot recipes for pasta and veggies lately. And while pasta is pretty easy to make as it is, it’s even more enticing to be able to make an entire one-pot meal, pasta-plus-veggies, without using multiple pots and pans. I modified this recipe to enjoy for lunch with Zacky all week.

Bring pot to a boil then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Once all of the water has been soaked up, mix in coconut milk and season with additional salt if needed. The coconut milk will give the pasta a nice light and creamy sauce.

Since this dish contained peas, pasta and mushrooms, I basically hit the jackpot with my toddler, and was happy to have a no-fuss lunch all week to share with him.